Tuesday Tip: A Positive Attitude can be Your Greatest Asset

Tuesday Tip: A Positive Attitude can be Your Greatest Asset

In every self-help/small-business/motivational book I’ve ever picked up and read (or skimmed anyway) there has been a recurring message about attitude. Each book stresses that a positive attitude about your work, family, marriage, etc. can greatly increase your ability to accomplish your goals.

My favorite small business book I’ve ever read is calledFish! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Resultsby Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen. I am not exaggerating when I say that I literally read all 107 pages in 45 minutes while sitting on the floor of a Barnes and Noble. Throughout the book, the authors stress that attitude, combined with other key strategies, is the greatest predictor of success. That it’s as simple as choosing to think positively, and excitedly about your work for the day. Instead of walking in the door of your office thinking about how much you wish you were still in bed, choose to look forward to helping patients feel better and to making a difference in the lives of those you see each day. Dwell not on the negatives of your work, but think instead of the things you love about it. And choose to be happy about being at the office.

As Denis Waitley said in The Winner’s Edge, “The winner’s edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner’s edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success. But you can’t buy an attitude for a million dollars. Attitudes are not for sale.” And isn’t that encouraging? That no matter who we are or what we do, that we can be successful if we choose to live life with a positive attitude.

Sure, some things in life are beyond your control. Some patients you meet during the day are going to complain. Some patients are going to refuse treatment. Some patients are going to struggle with their payments. Some of your co-workers may bring you down. These things are all out of your control. But what is in your control is how you respond to them. As John C. Maxwell so eloquently stated in The Maxwell Daily Reader, “I cannot always choose what happens to me, but I can always choose what happens in me.”

Choosing to enter work with a positive attitude won’t help you do everything. However, it will help you to do anything better than if you entered work with a negative attitude.